It’s that time of year again, when we are getting all of the feels as we prepare to part ways with our Annual Inspirations catalog on September 1 and make way for a new Holiday Expressions idea book. We are so excited for the launch of the brand new catalog, filled to the brim with amazing new tools and products, and at the same time, we’re getting a little misty-eyed over having to say goodbye to others.

Luckily, we still have a little over two weeks left before our Annual Inspirations, and so many of the products featured inside it, retire. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite goodies for you below. Make sure you and your friends snatch these up before they’re gone for good!

Basic Banners Thin Cuts

Several of the Thin Cuts metal dies in Annual Inspirations are retiring, including the Basic Banners Thin Cuts! This set includes four sizes of the same banner shape, ideal for creating timeless accents for both cardmaking and scrapbooking.

Picture My Life™ Tabbed Journaling Cards

We love these trendy grid journaling cards! Use them to add journaling to any of your scrapbooking projects.

Small Organizer and Coordinating Foam Inserts

This organizer has served us well over the years, but it is time to bid him farewell! The small organizer and foam inserts that nestle inside are great for organizing various tools and small accessories. Be sure to snatch up a few before they’re gone!

Summer Fun Paper Doll Stamp and Thin Cuts

Girls just wanna have sun…at least this girl does! The Summer Fun Paper Doll stamp set is only available bundled with it’s coordinating Thin Cuts so you can be sure that each dress and accessory will fit just right!

Punny Pals

Our Punny Pals have been on a mission this year—to create as many smiles as possible! With every purchase of a My Acrylix® Punny Pals stamp set, $7 (USD) of the proceeds are donated to Operation Smile™, a non-profit organization that provides surgeries to repair cleft left lips and palates in children around the world.

These little guys’ mission isn’t over yet! With just a couple of weeks left, let’s make sure we don’t forget about them and give them a proper send off!

These products (and so many others!) are only available through the end of August, while supplies last, so hurry and grab your favorites before they are all gone!

Which products are you going to miss most from Annual Inspirations? Tell us in the comments below!

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It’s always such a good feeling to start off the new year with a brand new planner and brand new inspiration, so we’re super excited that we could give you a planner system that is functional and pretty! If you’re looking for even more ways to customize your newly purchased planner, the Picture My Life™ Live Your Day scrapbooking program is definitely the way to go!

Some of the decorations for the planner are functional as well as fun. For instance, don’t you love the “Birthdays” card to help you remember your loved ones’ big days? Insert some Memory Protectors™ into your planner so you can add pictures, color, and details like this to your week or month! Check out another example:

We also know that your to-do lists can be pretty daunting at times. At those moments, a bit of humor or motivation can help get you going. The Picture My Life Live Your Day scrapbooking program includes cheerful sentiments like this one, which can really brighten your day, especially when paired with your favorite photos. Here’s another fun way to use these Picture My Life cards:

Set your Picture My Life cards free from Memory Protectors™ by sticking them to any page with washi tape. Try embellishing your planner’s monthly dividers with cards and washi tape for a really stellar start to the month!

If you haven’t purchased the Picture My Life Live Your Day scrapbooking program, there’s still time! This handy set of cards is available until January 31, so hurry and snatch them up—they’re ready to save your day, week, month, and year!

All these products are available through one of our Independent Consultants. To find a Consultant near you, visit closetomyheart.com and click on “Find a Consultant” in the top right corner of the page.

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December’s knocking! Around here that means hot cocoa sipping, gift giving, gingerbread house making, tree trimming, and Christmas caroling—all the Yuletide merriment that makes this the most wonderful time of the year.

We know these memories are precious, and we want to preserve every single one. That’s why we’ve made the Picture My Life™ White Pines scrapbooking program different from all the others—in addition to an array of adorable journaling and title cards, this collection also includes a card for each of the first 25 days of December! Today, we’re going to share with you three great ways to use these cards.

1. The 25 Pages of Christmas

Create a pocket scrapbook page for each day leading up to Christmas! Our Picture My Life™ White Pines cards make it quick and easy to document each day because you can add your journaling, and then slide the cards and photos into place.

2. A Binder Ring Flipbook

Another idea to try out is creating a flipbook by hole punching the cards and sliding them onto a binder ring. In addition to using the cards for base pages, you can also use the 4″ x 3″ cards for matting photos, journaling, and creating tabs. The White Pines Complements make embellishing this little album quick and easy, and for a finishing touch, create a tassel out of Poppy thick twine to attach to the binder ring.

3. Christmas Home Decor

What should you do with your leftover cards? Use them to create beautiful home décor, of course! Frame a single card, or use the dated cards to invent your own advent calendar. Here, we’ve simply cut tree shapes from a few different cards and sewed them onto a piece of cardstock. We then “trimmed” our trees with a few dainty embellishments, like our red gems, bitty sparkles, and enamel stars!

There you have it: three ways to use the Picture My Life™ White Pines scrapbooking program to celebrate the joy of the holiday season!

How does it work? Well, during the first 25 days of December, we’ll be posting daily prompts on Instagram and Facebook inviting you to take your own photos and share them using the hashtag #ctmhcountdown. These prompts are designed to help you document each special moment as you prepare for Christmas Day!

Each week, we’ll draw a winner from those who have shared their photos on Instagram and send them their very own Picture My Life™ White Pines scrapbooking program! Then, on December 28, we’ll select five winners from those who have posted every day on either Instagram or Facebook. The prize for these five winners will be a My Legacy™ Cocoa Damask D-Ring album, a Picture My Life White Pines scrapbooking program, and a Memory Protectors™ variety pack!

Go to Instagram and Facebook tomorrow for your first prompt, and join us for the festivities!

All these products are available through one of our Independent Consultants. To find a Consultant near you, visit closetomyheart.com and click on “Find a Consultant” in the top right corner of the page.

The newest addition to our Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs, Jackson, debuted April 1 in the Seasonal Expressions 2 idea book. As with our previous decks, this one features a high design element, versatility, and all the dazzling designs you could ask for. The cards are great for mixing and matching with other decks, and the beautiful rounded edges look sharp within the pockets of our Memory Protectors™.

But Jackson is different, too.

It isn’t a 122-card deck, like your original favorites in Annual Inspirations. Following in the footsteps of the Hopscotch and Heartstrings programs, Jackson now stands as the star of the 56-card deck!

So why the shift in size? Quite simply, we work hard to provide you with the greatest products possible, and that always means meeting your needs. When we asked for feedback on your needs, you spoke—and we listened!

Your first request was a new balance between cards and photos. You cherish your photos so much that it turns out only a few cards on a page does the trick nicely. Fancy that! We are happy to help the lover of photos in every case.

Journaling was also voted one of your top priorities, so to complement your extra photos, we’ve provided more journaling spaces. With the Jackson program you’ll find that each card features one side dedicated to journaling, while the opposite side features the decorative sentiments and icons you’ve come to depend on. Once your memories are penned onto these journaling spots and slipped safely into pockets, flip your remaining cards over and enjoy the view!

Now that we’ve got the 56-card Jackson program in hand, we can all get back to capturing our favorite moments—one pocket at a time.

As part of Jeanette’s Creative Challenge, every Close To My Heart employee was invited to spend half the day investing in memories during a special Create & Take. Each employee that accepted the challenge was provided with a variety of Picture My Life™ cards, embellishments, Memory Protectors™, journaling pens, adhesives, and plenty of candy to snack on (yum!). The employees brought 250 photos, a pair of creative hands, and got scrapping. By the end of the day, we were all believers in the Picture My Life™ program.

Now it’s your turn! Show us your favorite use of the Picture My Life™ line for a chance to win. Post a photo to either the Close To My Heart Facebook page or on Instagram using the hashtag #jrlcreativechallenge before next Monday (March 3) to enter.

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Jeanette Lynton

Meet Jeanette Lynton—wife, mother, artist, and Founder & CEO of one of the world’s leading companies in the papercrafting industry. This blog is dedicated to all who share her love of creativity. Visit often, share your stories, and become family!

Help Operation Smile™

When you purchase the My Acrylix® Be Yourself stamp set, we donate $7 USD to Operation Smile™. Learn more